The whole truth on water tests

This newspaper isn't quick to jump on conspiracy theories and call for a Congressional investigation.

This newspaper isn't quick to jump on conspiracy theories and call for a Congressional investigation.

But when the public health and well-being are put into question, a thorough investigation is in order.

State officials are questioning test results on water-quality monitoring in areas affected by natural gas drilling. For years some individuals and communities have claimed that the hydraulic fracturing process — the cracking of the rock, the injection of chemicals into the fractures under pressure, the resultant pushing out of the natural gas dubbed "fracking" — has contaminated their drinking water. In several cases, the state Department of Environmental Protection has concluded that the water wasn't contaminated by fracking.

But now, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports, the depositions of two DEP employees indicate that's not the full story.

Taru Upadhyay, the division director of DEP's Bureau of Laboratories, told the Environmental Hearing Board that DEP's lab reports to property owners didn't include the full spectrum of contaminants the lab's testing found. Upadhyay said DEP's oil and gas division directed the lab to generate water test reports to homeowners that omitted the full menu of findings for heavy metals, from lithium, cobalt, chromium and boron to titanium — some of them human carcinogens — as well as volatile organic compounds that are associated with hydraulic fracturing fluids.

DEP water quality specialist John Carson said the department uses a special lab code for Marcellus Shale water contamination complaints statewide. He added the department failed to train water quality specialists to help them interpret the lab reports and identify contaminants that could signal Marcellus Shale-related impacts.

The Post-Gazette review of DEP water quality reports generated under the department's "942 Suite Code" confirmed that those reports didn't disclose all of the contaminants found in well water samples. The water complaints in these cases — from Washington, Butler and Susquehanna counties — were dismissed because the abbreviated reports did not support the property owner complaints.

For its part, the DEP cites a favorable review of its testing lab offered last year by the Association of Public Health Laboratories.

State Rep. Jesse White, D-Cecil, has asked state and federal law enforcement agencies to investigate the DEP for "alleged misconduct and fraud."

Incomplete lab reports may not constitute fraud. Possibly trace amounts of the heavy metals not included in the reports were so low that they were no threat to human health. But if the DEP deliberately withholds information on water quality reports related to drilling activities, that just raises questions about why. White wants a full investigation. There should be one.

Pennsylvania citizens depend on their government to protect the public health and safety. Right now it sounds like Pennsylvanians are getting only a partial picture of what's in the water near fracking sites. It doesn't inspire faith in the fracking process — or faith in government.